The sad story of Butterfly Feint Long (Classic or First Version)

[Charles W]

Feint Long was used by all the top pro choppers & most high level to mid level amateurs as well, before ITTF banned this rubber with the Durban 1998 Aspect Ratio Reduction Regulation Massacre. This regulation reduced the maximum allowed Aspect Ratio of pips from 1.3 to 1.1 after 1998.
Aspect Ratio refers to the height (or length) divided by width (or diameter) of a pip.

Feint Long will still in the 40+ mm plastic ball ONLY era much better than the totally useless Feint Long 2 released in the 40- celluloid ball era after 2000 & Feint Long 3 which was released after the 40+ mm plastic ball ONLY ear after 2014.
Though it would make sense for Butterfly to release a Feint Long 4 version with an Aspect Ratio of around 1.5 & higher pip density. This would make it better suited for choppers in the 40+ mm plastic ball ONLY era.

[Spin Solver]

Nearly all the top "choppers" (male or female) including the very best were using Feint Long when it was banned in 1998 with the Durban Aspet Ratio Reduction Regulation.

Below is the list of choppers effected (most listed some may be missing)

Men
1. Chen Xinhua (England , Chinese born) Top 10
2. Li Gun Sang (North Korea) Top 10
3. Koji Matsushita (Japan) Top 20
4. Hiroshi Shibutani (Japan) Top 30
5. Matthew Syed (England)Top 30
6. Tomas Nordberg (Sweden) Top 100
7. BK Arunkumar (USA & India) Top 100
8. Derek May (USA) Top 100

Possibly Adham Sharara himself , then future president of ITTF

Women
1. Lisa Lomas (England)
2. Allison Holt (England)
3. Virginia Sung (USA)

[Baverian Mädchen]

Nearly all the top "choppers" (male or female) including the very best were using Feint Long when it was banned in 1998 with the Durban Aspet Ratio Reduction Regulation.

Below is the list of choppers effected (most listed some may be missing)

Men
1. Chen Xinhua (England , Chinese born) Top 10
2. Li Gun Sang (North Korea) Top 10
3. Koji Matsushita (Japan) Top 20
4. Hiroshi Shibutani (Japan) Top 30
5. Matthew Syed (England)Top 30
6. Tomas Nordberg (Sweden) Top 100
7. BK Arunkumar (USA & India)
8. Derek May (USA)

Possibly Adham Sharara himself , then future president of ITTF

Women
1. Lisa Lomas (England)
2. Allison Holt (Englnd)
3. Virginia Sung (USA)

You left out one of the earlier one > ENGELBERT HÜGING
Though he probably was not active in 1998
See this topic

[Baverian Mädchen]

Another player who was using Feint Long in 1998 when it was banned
Ntanial Tsokas (Greece)

[Fahriye]

The sorry excuse used by ITTF was that most long pips users were microwaving their TSP P1 Curl creating too much "kink" (Not my choice of words I am using the exact word used by ITTF)
But the fact of the matter was that these were only a handful & none of them were choppers.
ITTF could have easily banned just TSP P1 Curl & few other such rubbers.
But they punished the top choppers by banning Feint Long (classic) & Juic Leggy (Classic)
Crazy part was that some rubbers just as "kinky" as TSP P1 Curl such as Yasaka Phantom 007 , 008 & 009 and Double Fish 1615 & few others were left approved & remain approved to this day in 2025